JOURNEY the LEGACY
Honor and Healing our First Nations'
Peoples Campaign
Vision: Bring forth healing to our First Nation Peoples by honoring their cultures and restoring the original vision of William Penn and Lenape' Chief Tamenend for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to be a place of peace and sanctuary.
History: All First Nation Peoples held a common view that life and land was interconnected and interrelated in harmonious ways and shared with all. The vision of peace and sanctuary that Penn brought to Pennsylvania found resonance with the view of Native peoples. Not all immigrants agreed with and upheld Penn's vision, however, which generated human catastrophes:
Government and military dishonest actions massacre of the Lancaster Conestoga tribe by Paxton militia, failure to render justice to Native peoples according to existing Pennsylvania laws, lack of proper burial following the massacres and later desecration of the mass grave, breaking of treaties made by Penn with Native peoples, promotion of Manifest Destiny.
Social injustices and prejudices by immigrant peoples collusion in the destruction of Native cultures and identity, introduction of rum into Native communities that fostered lifestyles of addiction, encroachment onto the treaty designated Native lands and poaching of fur animals and deer herds that created Native poverty, creation of social systems that stigmatized Native peoples and caused them to hide their identity.
Sins of those bearing the name of Christ Lack of effective response by the church, to the failure of justice, participation in the encroachment of treaty designated lands and the grab of those lands after the second massacre, removal of Native children to boarding schools like the one at Carlisle.
Outcomes: In an effort to own these human catastrophes, to apologize, and to bring reconciliation and healing to Native peoples in a way that is consistent with Penn's vision, the following outcomes would give tangible form to attitudes and gestures of reconciliation:
collect data on the presence of Native peoples living in Pennsylvania in order to determine their current status.
support formal recognition of Native tribes by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
restore the identity of Native people's that was purposefully removed by the dominant culture.
promote healing among all peoples affected by these experiences, past and present.
promote Lancaster County, starting in this anniversary year, as the a leader in restoring the original vision of William Penn and Chief Tamenend.
For more information, contact Lancaster Roots 300 Reconciliation
Committee:
Becky Gochenaur, Director, 1719 Herr House
diector@hansherr.org
(717) 464-4438
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